The ChallengeTea Club offers a wide variety of teas and coffees from all over the world. Many products are of a premium quality, requiring premium packaging that reflects the superior quality the brand offers. The packaging labels have to be printed on different types of label media, including pre-cut media in various sizes, formats and volumes. Tea Club was particularly interested in a solution to print white on dark labels.

Due to a vast portfolio of business activities, from the country-wide network of tea and coffee Five O’Clock shops, through the teas and coffees offered in hotels, to the franchise network, the various production needs required across the business became challenging to handle. The company needed to reduce not only the cost of label production, but also preparation time, as well as having the flexibility to adapt to business clients’ needs. Clients expected fast delivery, often within a day or two and with a particular customised branding. Hotels and franchise holders wanted to see label samples in advance to get an idea of the packaging concept before ordering teas and coffees. Another important challenge was supporting promotional campaigns, as this required the production of a small quantity of customised labels on special media that contained variable data.

Industry: Producer/Boutique Retailer Applications: Packaging Labels Location: Lubin, Poland

OKI Success Story: Tea Club/Five O’Clock

About Tea Club/Five O’Clock Tea Club is a family owned business located in Poland. Since 1990, the company has been importing and selling high-quality teas and coffees, and related accessories. The company sells its wide range and often unique blends of teas, imported from all over the world, through its specialist network of Tea Club and Five O’Clock boutiques and cafés across Poland and has captured a loyal following due to its rich, high-quality blends.

OKI and Tea Club make the perfect blend

When ordering labels from a print supplier it was very difficult and costly to meet the volumes and lead times required resulting in a loss of business as well as a lot of wastage. Hence the expenses were high, and waiting times too long.

“There was a long lead time for pre-printed labels to be delivered from the supplier. For that reason, we were not always able to effectively support promotional campaigns and special events for our business clients. It is very important to us that we can print in-house without delay, including in small quantities ,” says Marek Brzezicki, a Founder and Co-Owner of Tea Club and Five O’Clock.

Tea Club & Five O’Clock boutique and café

Marek Brzezicki, Founder and Co-Owner of Tea Club and Five O’Clock

The SolutionAuthorised OKI partner Ekstreme, presented Tea Club OKI’s Pro1050 5 Colour Label printer. The Tea Club founders decided that this particular printer could help meet their label printing needs. It would allow them to significantly improve the label production process, offering greater flexibility and versatility including printing professional quality labels in-house, in the quantities needed. Tea Club would be more self-sufficient in supporting not only its own business but also that of its business clients as well.

“The decision to buy the OKI Pro1050 printer was based on the fact that previously we had to rely on external suppliers and order in bulk resulting in a lot of labels being delivered that, in many cases, we did not need,” says Brzezicki.

OKI’s Pro1050 is a unique five-colour CMYK+W printer for 4.8” labels that uses digital LED technology, which has significantly changed the way labels are printed. This combined with award-winning white toner technology developed by OKI, enables customised labels to be easily printed on a wide range of label media, making professional in-house label printing much easier and economical.

The BenefitsSince using OKI’s Pro1050, Tea Club has been able to design versatile and creative labels printing the exact quantities required, most importantly, without delay! No more time wasted due to supply chain downtime and no more problems with misinterpretation of order specifications by the supplier.

“OKI’s Pro1050 label printer not only saves us time, it also allows us to offer higher quality labels thanks to the 5-colour printing option,” says Brzezicki . “We can immediately print various test samples for our new products, or labels adapted to the specific needs of our business partners.”

Labels are mainly printed on media with a paper base, but also on textured paper, transparent foil and, experimentally, on mass-dyed media. The team can test and experiment with templates and projects in advance, as well as sending label samples and proofs to business clients on an ongoing basis. As a result, the final products for hotels or promotional campaigns are created considerably faster and at a much lower cost.

“Now, we are self-sufficient,” says Brzezicki. “We create new designs for ourselves, and for our clients, especially those who want to offer products under their own brand. I am really pleased we decided to invest in OKI’s Pro1050 Label Printer. It’s a great solution for supporting our daily label printing needs and our special projects.”

“OKI’s Pro1050 works perfectly with our automated label finishing system, resulting in us being completely self-sufficient. We can now introduce new products more easily and customise them with new label designs using a wide range of media” Marek Brzezicki, Founder and Co-Owner of Tea Club and Five O’Clock.

Example packaging labels printed using OKI’s Pro1050 Label Printer

“OKI’s Pro1050 Label Printer not only saves us time, it also allows us to offer higher quality labels thanks to the 5-colour printing option. We can immediately print various test samples for our new products or labels adapted to the specific needs of our business partners.”Marek Brzezicki, founder and co-owner of Tea Club and Five O’Clock.

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“We can print customised labels, on various media, using a full range of CMYK colours and the fifth white toner. Additional advantages, including simple operation, considerable time efficiency and being able to react to clients’ needs and orders quickly, make this investment extremely beneficial for us,” says Brzezicki .

Tea Club can now quickly deliver customised products, in many cases even overnight so their clients can develop marketing and promotional campaigns. Shorter delivery times, resulting from being able to print on-demand, in-house instead of having to wait for pre-printed labels to be delivered, has significantly expanded the company’s business potential. It can now support client requests even with short lead times or small quantities of customised products.

Brzezicki sums up the advantages: “Each month we save almost 25% of what we used to spend previously. More importantly we don’t have to turn down potential business due to long lead times and disappointed clients. We can now produce everything our clients request, when needed including customised labels for our teas so clients receive customised products without any delays.”

The Future:“OKI’s Pro1050 works perfectly with our automated label finishing system, resulting in us being completely self-sufficient. We can now introduce new products more easily and customise them with new label designs using a wide range of media,” says Brzezicki. “Without a doubt, it will help us to grow as a company and develop our business potential.”

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Tea Club & Five O’Clock retail boutique & café, displaying products with labels printed on OKI’s Pro1050